Song StoryI Know How He Feels
by MKAngelus
Summary: One Shot story based around song lyrics, Brennan said she couldn't be with Booth 'that way' now, she's regretting that decision...


***As with all the 'Song Stories' this is a one shot story wrapped around song lyrics. If you are interested in the song it's called I Know How He Feels by Reba McEntire. Thank you in advance for the reviews and I hope you like it~ MK***

I know How He Feels Song Story

Prologue

Brennan looked at the invitation in her hand and debated whether or not to check the 'yes I will be attending' or the 'no I'm sorry I cannot attend' box. She re-read the inscription on the front.

This day

I will marry my friend,

the one I laugh with, live for,

dream with, love.

She traced her finger over the richly embossed lettering and imagined that the names on the invitation were different. Setting the invitation aside she picked up the wine glass she'd sat down upon opening the invitation and took a sip. The wine slid down her throat, smooth and heady. She enjoyed the boastful flavor and was glad that she'd stocked up before leaving Maryland. It had been two years since she'd accepted the position at Northwestern University. She was a professor of Anthropology there and although she had dearly missed the Jeffersonian and the FBI casework at first, she'd grown to love teaching. The students were eager to learn from her vast experience, she missed the digs and the field work, but was able to supervise her students in a controlled environment, so it wasn't too bad.

She kept in touch with most everyone from the Jeffersonian, Angela of course, they spoke almost daily. Cam and Jack she emailed regularly and occasionally she would hear from Sweets or Daisy or Wendell, but not very often. They were busy with their own young lives and careers. The one person that she thought she would be in contact the most was the one she almost never heard from. They tried at first to keep in touch, however Parker was growing up and became more demanding of his time with his sports and school, and the obligatory Christmas card aside, she and Booth had drifted out of touch.

She couldn't blame him. Things were never quite the same after their confrontation with Sweets about the erroneous assumption in his book. That night was really the beginning of the end for them. They'd tried to work together on the various cases that popped up, but there was always that fabled 'elephant' in the room and all too soon their normal bickering became full blown arguments, they weren't able to communicate as effectively and it was all too obvious that they weren't going to be able to separate their personal lives from their professional ones.

That hurt her more than she could ever have imagined. She thought that with all her rationalizing and compartmentalizing she would be able to focus on the job at hand. Instead, she found herself focusing on his scent, his nearness and the way he didn't introduce her as his partner anymore and that he'd stopped putting his hand on her back when they left a room. Not only that, but she was very aware of his attraction to one Catherine Breyers. He and the marine biologist had met when there was a deceased self help guru found in the aquarium in DC. Brennan couldn't help but compare their similarities, they were both attractive, brunettes, blue eyes, and well educated, however that was where the comparisons ended. Brennan was reserved and unsure of social etiquette, Catherine was confidant and at ease at all levels of personal interaction. She and Booth had started dating shortly after meeting and Brennan knew that for all her rationalizing and protective instincts where he was concerned that she'd made a colossal mistake.

She'd tried to remedy it one night after the gang had all met at FF for drinks. Catherine hadn't been able to make it and she and Booth were like the partners of old. They'd started off with beer, progressed to shots and then decided that they would walk to his house to dive into the 20 year old scotch bottle he had. Arriving at his apartment, they'd each poured a glass and began to listen to music. One thing led to another and much like their first kiss, passion exploded and they'd found themselves in his room, slowly undressing each other, stealing kisses, touching once forbidden flesh.

Booth was the one that had stopped. He whispered, "I can't do this Bones, I'm sorry."

She asked him why and his reply had all but sealed their fate, "I've loved you for as long as I can remember Bones, I've tried to be everything that I can for you and it's never enough. I don't want to ruin what little bit we have left of our former relationship, I told you I had to move on and I did, and I have something good that I don't want to lose because of a drunken indiscretion." He had moved off the bed and pulled his shirt on and handed her hers back. "I'll call you a cab" he told her from the doorway.

She'd done then what she'd always done, she'd pushed the hurt away, agreed that he was right and attempted to fool herself into believing it. She'd gone home that very night and emailed her old alma mater and responded to a request for an interview that they'd sent her. Two months later, she was in Illinois and she and Booth began to drift.

She picked up the invitation again and looked it over. She knew that going back was sure to re-open old wounds, but she wasn't able to stay away. These were important people to her and she wanted to be there. Marking the box indicating she would be attending, she put the smaller RSVP card into the envelope that it came with and set it out to be mailed in the morning.

**The Song Begins…**

Tempe wandered through the reception with a champagne flute in her hand, smiling at the familiar faces and occasionally stopping to talk to people, she made her way to her table. Suddenly, she heard an oh so familiar voice and her heart stopped dead in its tracks. She turned towards the direction the voice had come from and saw him standing there, a ghost from her past.

He had his arm around the slender waist of the brunette with him, leaning in to whisper in her ear and smiling at her response, he was too caught up to notice her. Tempe knew that it was inevitable that they would see each other here; and that he would be with his new love, she just didn't expect it to hurt so much.

Tempe knew how he feels; she knew the warmth of that arm on her waist, the way that he felt. She knew how soft his kiss was, how tender his touch, and it was cutting straight through her body to her very bones because she let him go. She knew too, how much he cared and how strong his love really was; especially when he believed it was real. She'd been there, she knew how he felt

She sat down awkwardly at a table, alone and simply watched. Allowing the rush of feeling and emotion to crash down upon her, as long as she kept him out of sight, she was able to keep him compartmentalized and kept from going out of her mind. She was able to rationalize every decision and justify her actions. But seeing him today there was no denying what a love like his was worth. Watching the two of them together now on the dance floor, his eyes alight with love for the woman in his arms, she thought sadly that he used to look at her like that too. She's a lucky girl, Brennan thought.

Tempe knew how he feels; she knew the warmth of that arm on her waist, the way that he felt. She knew how soft his kiss was, how tender his touch, and it was cutting straight through her body to her very bones because she let him go. She knew too, how much he cared and how strong his love really was; especially when he believed it was real. She'd been there, she knew how he feels.

She watched them leave the dance floor and head to their own table and she tipped her glass up in their direction in a silent toast and smiled sadly as she emptied the glass and set it down on the table. Gathering her purse and wrap, she quietly left the reception hall, all the while knowing how he feels when he believes it's real.

The End…

MK


End file.
